Signal Your Value
Times are changing
In a market rife with competition, I’ve begun to contemplate how young professionals and fresh college graduates might distinguish themselves from future employers.
According to educationdata.org, they estimated that in the academic year of 2019–2020, there were 3,890,000 college graduates. It’s no wonder that the bachelor’s degree is no longer the guarantor to a well-paying job.
What gives?
Now, I will not perpetuate that college is a waste of time (for everyone). However, the increasing range of student debt is absurd.
I will state that maybe it is time for a more dynamic approach. We find ourselves in the digital age of information, where a sheet of paper that says your degree is no longer sufficient evidence for the value you might bring employers.
Google is now advancing certificates to “replace” the college degree. Various courses and software are now being made readily available. College alternatives are emerging out of the woodwork. There’s a gap, and it’s actively filling.
If we genuinely want to distinguish ourselves, we must continually signal our value. What can you do that someone taking a free course on Coursera can’t?
Employers no longer care about what you say you can do; they care about what you can show them. It is our responsibility to expand and improve our baseline of skill sets.
In what ways are you signaling your value?
